The Clippers came back from the All-Star break well-rested defeating the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs 3-2. Columbus was able to consistently stay on the board, while the Ironpigs couldn’t seem to find their swing until it was too late.

Well not that Colon, obviously. While Tony is off having fun on vacation, Jim Piascik fills in, analyzing High-A Carolina right-hander Joseph Colon's return from injury and his development, admires and breaks down the progress Double-A outfielder Carlos Moncrief has made in 2013, checks in with Aeros manager Edwin Rodriguez on how a dozen of his players are doing and what changes they are making, and provides insight and information on the likes of Alex Monsalve, Bryson Myles, Dorssys Paulino, Nellie Rodriguez, D'Vone McClure, and more!

The Columbus Clippers concluded the first half of their season on a high note, finishing the past week with a 4-1 record. The winning record is quite a welcoming sign for the Clippers who have been inconsistent all season, and things seem to be clicking on all cylinders for Columbus as the offense, defense and pitching have all been productive as of late. The IBI's Ethan Day takes us sailing in his weekly Clippers notebook...

Nellie Rodriguez struggled at Lake County early in the season, making it was clear that the organization pushed the first baseman too quickly. After he was moved down to Mahoning Valley, Rodriguez looked better and started to produce, not that anyone could have seen Wednesday night coming. Rodriguez turned in a career performance, and to read all about it and the rest of the action from the minor leagues, join Jim Piascik and go Around The Farm.

Now that we have hit the All-Star break and more than half the season is over, it felt right to have an updated prospect ranking on IBI. Since Tony will be putting in a ton of work ranking the prospects for 2014 soon enough, Jim Pete and Jim Piascik both ranked their top prospects and then merged their lists into one. Part one of that list is after the jump, as well as the two Jims' e-mail chain as they justified their rankings to each other.

There are all sorts of goodies in this week’s Minor Happenings report. Tony takes a look at the strides that Triple-A Columbus right-handed reliever Bryan Price has made and if he is on the major league radar, he puts versatile Low-A Lake County infielder Erik Gonzalez under the prospect microscope, he provides a ton of comments from the front office on players up and down the Single-A Mahoning Valley roster, and provides insight and information on the likes of Cord Phelps, Trey Haley, Cody Anderson, LeVon Washington, Matt LaPorta and more!

The Columbus Clippers entered the All-Star Break after devastating the Indianapolis Indians Sunday evening. Thanks to strong pitching from Columbus the Indians were unable to make a comeback against the Clippers’ vigorous offense and ultimately lost, 6-1.

Trailing 2-1 heading into the ninth inning, the Columbus Clippers tied things up on a sacrifice fly by center fielder Tim Fedroff and then exploded for three runs in the top of the 11th to burry the Indianapolis Indians in the 5-2 in the latter game of a twin bill Saturday.

Perhaps it was the “lucky” green uniforms the Clippers were wearing on Irish Heritage Night at Huntington Park or maybe it was the clutch hitting in the bottom of the eighth inning. Regardless, Columbus prevailed against the Toledo Mud Hens Friday with a narrow 2-1 victory.

Early in the afternoon, former ATF darling and highly regarded prospect Danny Salazar led the big league club to victory. A success story like Salazar shows exactly why following these prospects is fun: you are getting a glimpse at the major league contributors of tomorrow. A few players were doing their best Salazar impersonations Thursday, including a first baseman at Columbus trying to jumpstart his season and an outfielder rehabbing in Arizona trying to get back. For all this and more, join Jim Piascik as he takes you Around The Farm.

An all-out offensive assault of seven extra-base hits lead the Clipper to a 10-3 beat down of the Toledo Mud Hens Thursday. Right-hander Carrasco (3-0, 3.29 ERA) was solid in his first start since being optioned from Cleveland on July 7. After pitching phenomenally through the first third of the game, a rough fourth inning knocked the starter of course a bit and forced him to exit the game early in the sixth inning.

Slowly but surely, the Clippers seem to be improving as of late, going 3-4 over the past week. The pitching seems to be coming around from both the starting rotation and the bullpen. The biggest problem lies with the offense whom was shutout three times over the previous 7 days and has dropped to last in the International League in team batting average at .247. Nevertheless, Columbus is making strides of improvement and are inching their way back to .500 (42-52).

In the midst of a stellar season at Triple-A Columbus, relief pitcher Preston Guilmet has finally been given the opportunity that he has sought since being selected in the ninth round of the 2009 MLB First-Year Player Draft - a shot in the majors. The IBI's Ethan Day recently caught up with him and discussed the things that helped get him his first big league call.

The last time Clippers left-hander T.J. House saw his name in the win column was May 13. Going up against the International League West leading Indianapolis Indians Tuesday, it looked like that statistic wouldn’t change. Wrong.

Tony takes a look at 10 of the hottest hitters in the organization from Double-A Akron to rookie level Arizona – some names you know well and some you don’t. The players are not ranked, but are listed by level and include the likes of Tyler Holt, Jose Ramirez, Joey Wendle, Jeremy Lucas, Dorssys Paulino, Anthony Santander, Logan Vick, Nellie Rodriguez, Clint Frazier and Joel Mejia. He provides insight into what kind of prospect each player is, their upside, their strengths and weaknesses, and some statistical trends as well.

After Columbus rallied to tie the game twice, the final two scoreless innings forced a drenched Huntington Park into extra innings with the Indianapolis Indians Monday night. After twelve innings the Clippers ultimately took the loss falling behind the Indians 8-3.

COLUMBUS- The Clippers split a doubleheader against the Louisville Bats Saturday. Right-hander Danny Salazar dazzled in the first contest, allowing just one hit on the way to a 4-0 blanking by Columbus but the Bats would rebound by earning a hard-fought 1-0 victory in the second affair.

The Clippers produced some of their own fireworks on this Fourth of July weekend. Lead by a monster seven-run second inning and a dominating outing by starter Paolo Espino, Columbus pounded the Louisville Bats 7-3 Friday in the first contest of a nine game home stand.

A very happy Fourth of July to you! We at IBI hope you had a great holiday and enjoyed a little time off. There was no time off in the minor leagues Thursday, as all of Cleveland's affiliates were in action. Some did a little worse than others (like a pair of four-hit outings in Columbus and Carolina), though there were plenty of good performances, including some impressive pitching and hitting in Lake County. To read all about Thursday in the minor leagues, join Jim Piascik and go Around The Farm.

Available IBI Books

The 2014 Cleveland Indians Baseball Insider book featuring the Indians' Top 100 Prospects and more is now available. Also, previous editions from 2008-2012 are also available at a discounted rate. Just click on the book image for more information. Thanks again for all the support!